Fourth and Fifth Republic in France

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The Constitution of the Fifth Republic of France constitutes a definite improvement over the Constitution of the Fourth Republic. While the nature of the French polity continues to be Republican, Unitarian and Democratic, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic provides for a synthetic system of government. It seeks to combine the features of Parliamentary and Presidential systems.

The Constitution of the Fourth Republic was a complete exercise in the Parliamentary form of government. The Fifth Republic, on the other hand, combines the features of Parliamentary and Presidential forms of government.

Because of such a quality, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic differs from that of the Fourth Republic in several respects:

1. Under the Fourth Republic the President occupied a position of almost constitutional and titular headship similar to the one which is occupied by the head of a state with the parliamentary system of government e.g. India. French President was the head of the state but not of the government. He was to sign every paper and to perform every work on the advice of the cabinet, particularly the concerned minister.

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In the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the President has been assigned a powerful and influential role. In the words of Zink, “the new constitution has strikingly enhanced the importance of the presidential office making the President the actual head of the government as well as the formal head of the state.” He has been given several real executive powers. He presides over the meetings of the Council of Ministers, plays a crucial role in the formation of national policies, makes important major appointments and presides over the meetings of the Council for National Defence. He shares real executive powers with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

However, he is neither as powerful as the American President nor as weak as the President of India or the King of England. The real powers enjoyed by the French President give to the French system of government a look of the presidential form. However, the existence of the office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, along with the concept of ministerial responsibility, highlights the Parliamentary nature of the Fifth Republic. As such, whereas the Fourth Republic provided for a system in which the Head of the State was a constitutional head, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic provides for the office of a powerful President.

2. The Fourth Republic provided for a system of parliamentary executive. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President. But in doing so, he had to consult the political parties and the appointed person was required to get his appointment confirmed by the National Assembly.

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In actual practice, the National Assembly played a key role in the appointment of the Prime Minister. The Prime minister was virtually the leader of the majority in the National Assembly. The Prime Minister and other ministers used to be the members of the French Parliament.

Under the Fifth Republic, the French President appoints the Prime Minister. In doing so, he has no obligation to consult the political parties. However, the Prime Minister and the other Ministers have to secure and always maintain the support of the majority in the Parliament.

Unlike the Fourth Republic, the Prime Minister and all other ministers cannot be members of the Parliament. A member has to resign his seat in the Parliament before taking over as a minister under the Fifth Republic. The memberships of the executive and the legislature have been made incompatible with each other.

3. The Cabinet, under the Fourth Republic, was decidedly more powerful than the Council of Ministers under the Fifth Republic. Several executive powers are now directly and really in the hands of the French President.

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4. Under the Fifth Republic, the President of the Republic has the power to dissolve the National Assembly.

This, of course, can be done under two constitutional restrictions:

(a)He cannot dissolve the National Assembly twice within a single year.

(b)He cannot dissolve the National Assembly during a state of emergency.

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Under the Fourth Republic, the President had the right to dissolve the National Assembly only under the advice of the Prime Minister.

5. The control exercised by the National Assembly over the executive under the Fifth Republic is certainly less than the control that used to be exercised by it under the Constitution of the Fourth Republic.

6. The working of the constitutional system under the Constitution of the Fourth Republic was characterised by a high degree of political instability. During its life of just 12 years, there were formed 20 cabinets. The system under the Fifth Republic has exhibited a fair degree of stability and operation-ability. The gradual rise of France as a major power in the world tends to support this view.

It can be observed that despite several similarities, the dissimilarities between the constitutions of the Fourth and the Fifth Republics are definitely more marked and profound. The Fourth Republic was a Westminster Model in letter and spirit. The Fifth Republic provides for a system of government which is neither purely parliamentary nor purely presidential. It involves a bold and useful attempt at a synthesis of these two forms of government.

This arrangement has definitely helped the French Political System under the Fifth Republic to overcome the hurdle of political instability as was experienced under the Fourth Republic. This system has clearly stood the test of time, as stands demonstrated by the existence of stable and strong French governments during the past five decades.

The Constitution of the Fifth Republic has proved its suitability for the French political system—a liberal democratic systems with a multi-party system and a political culture characterised by strong emotional and affective orientations towards political objects, ideas, principles, concepts and issues.